It was a dark and stormy night...but not really
by jazzswingertrumpet
Summary: Weird stuff starts happening and it's up to some edhs band members to find out why...or something like that.
1. Karyn goes to sleep in rat poison and Ke...

Okay, I don't own any of the characters or the EDHS marching band..stuff, save myself (Karyn), so don't be mad. The situations are mostly fiction, and resemblance in any way shape or form of existing people and/or places is purely (non)coincidental. :-D  
  
  
  
  
  
It was a dark and stormy night..  
  
No, really, it was about a week ago.  
  
But that doesn't have anything to do with this story; this one happened on a sunny day. Which is a good thing. If it weren't, Karyn, Brittney, and Katie would have frozen (although they were already quite cold) while they stood on the porch outside the bandroom like idiots. Well...it wasn't exactly a porch, just more like an extension of the sidewalk back underneath this large overhang, but ANYWAY everyone called it the porch.  
  
And why were they so idiotically standing there, being cold? We- ellll....that's a good question. Not really, but it sounded nice. They were really waiting for their friends, Chelsea and Maggie-Alex (or Mal or Mallie).  
  
"There they are, there they are!" Brittney jumped up and down when she spotted a van coming into the parking lot that looked a lot like theirs, excited that she would finally be able to go to class.  
  
"No, that's not them, either," Katie sighed and crammed her hands into her jacket pockets.  
  
"Maybe they're dead," Karyn suggested, ever the optimist. The other girls just glared at her.  
  
"Whoops...there I go thinking out loud again," Karyn tried to look embarrassed for her friends' sakes, but she really thought it was kind of funny.  
  
Karyn yawned. She didn't really want to go to English to work on her term paper about Alexandre Dumas, but she didn't particularly enjoy sitting out in the cold, either. She decided to head inside the bandroom, instead, and sleep, cutting English and Algebra II as well. She crawled in the space in the very back of the auditorium (the bandroom was also the school's auditorium, but it was never used for anything) behind the chairs, between cabinets where the band's tuxedoes hung and some stacks of chairs. She quietly pulled some extra tuxes out of the cabinet so she wouldn't have to sleep on the rat poison in the floor, and she fell asleep.  
  
***One hour later***  
  
  
  
Karyn woke up wondering if she should try to find Maggie-Alex and Chelsea, when she realized she was being moved.  
  
"Hey!" she exclaimed, biting the hand that was over her face. She heard a muffled "Ow!", and then she was dropped on the floor, but she saw a girl quickly running out of the bandroom. Confused, because she never was a quick thinker when she was sleepy, she just fell back down and dozed off again. It probably had something to do with the rat poison, some of which had kind of accidentally on purpose been put in her nose so she would breathe it. However, she soon awoke herself, and she slowly crept out from behind the cabinets. Just as she did, she noticed the figure of a short girl running toward her, wielding a trumpet...and a pretty nice trumpet at that.  
  
Karyn quickly grabbed the trumpet from the girl, because she couldn't bear to see such a waste of such a precious instrument on her own hard noggin, and instead, she hit the girl one good time in the head with the edge of the bell, knocking her down. When Karyn leaned over and pulled the ski mask off the girl, her suspicions were confirmed. It was her section leader, Kelsey.  
  
Karyn was a little (okay, a lot) confused. While they weren't close friends, they weren't enemies either. She wondered why Kelsey would try to injure or kill her, when the girl started to stir. Karyn quickly hit her over the head again, just so she wouldn't wake up anytime soon, then she dragged her to the tux cabinets. Stepping inside, she found a flight of stairs leading below the bandroom (hey, this is fiction, it can happen), so she decided to blindfold Kelsey and drag her down the stairs. Upon reaching the small room underneath, Karyn noticed a box just big enough in which she could deposit her dwarfed section leader.  
  
After making sure Kelsey was securely bound and gagged, Karyn placed her in the box, and she then threw some freezing cold water in her face to wake her up. She then removed the gag from her mouth, as soon as the initial shock of the water had passed.  
  
"Wh-what is this all about?" Kelsey sputtered, spraying water on Karyn as she talked.  
  
"Oh...shouldn't I be asking you that? Why were you trying to knock me out with your trumpet? It's mine now, by the way," Karyn answered, coolly.  
  
Kelsey looked scared for a second, and then she became defiant.  
  
"Give me my trumpet back. You know that it cost lots of money...I know I can always go out and buy another one since my family is so rich and all, but I like that one!"  
  
Karyn held the trumpet up high in the air.  
  
"Tell me what you were planning on doing, and I might consider returning the trumpet...don't tell me, and the trumpet dies!" She let the instrument dangle precariously on the ends of her fingers.  
  
Kelsey looked scared. "Okay, okay!! I'll tell you.but promise not to tell anyone and get me a bad reputation, okay? I mean, I know they already think that I'm bossy, and Brian and Chris and Daniel think I'm a sexy ho, but I just don't want to make it worse!"  
  
Karyn tapped her foot impatiently. "I'm waiting...I haven't got all day, you know." The trumpet was swinging dangerously.  
  
"O-kay! All the first chair players are trying to get rid of their potential competition since chair auditions are coming up. I hope you're happy now." Kelsey sank back sullenly. She would have crossed her arms, but seeing how she was kind of tied up at the moment, she crossed her eyes instead. And they stuck that way, even though they still could not be seen behind the blindfold. 


	2. Chelsea comes to school, half the band i...

Karyn was speechless. She knew she didn't stand a chance against Kelsey, since Kelsey was...well, Kelsey. She soon recovered, however, being the trumpet player that she is, and got incredibly cocky about it. Making sure once more that Kelsey was secured, Karyn ran up the stairs with the trumpet and hid the staircase...she thought that it could come in handy for her later on if no one else knew about it, besides Kelsey, of course.  
  
When she came out from behind the cabinets, she saw that the bell had rung for lunch, and a few people had already come into the bandroom, as that was the usual lunchtime ritual for a select group of people, including Karyn. She hid Kelsey's trumpet in a cubby that was pretty high up, since Kelsey's so short and Karyn had never had any intention of returning the horn anyhow. She then walked down to the stairs of the stage and sat with Brittney, Heather, Amanda, and Chelsea, who had simply decided to cut the first two periods and show up for band, as she often would do.  
  
"I LOVE KARYN!!!!!" Brittney yelled to no one in particular, as Karyn sat on the steps.  
  
"I LOVE BRITTNAAAY!!!!!" Karyn replied, also to the book bags and instrument cases in the auditorium chairs.  
  
It was a moment of temporary insanity...maybe. Actually, they did this about every day, but anyway...  
  
"So, where's Mallie at?" Karyn asked Chelsea.  
  
"Wellll...she's in the hospital. She got really sick off of something. We think it's food poisoning, but I'm not sure. Hey, did you notice that Kelsey, Jennifer, Elizabeth, Matt, Darren, Allison, and Charly aren't here today? That's kind of odd. Heather is the only upperclassman that is a first chair player here. Why do you suppose that's happening?" Chelsea saw the odd look on Karyn's face, but Karyn just ever so slightly shook her head, motioning subtly toward Heather.  
  
"Hey, I want you two to check something out," Chelsea and Brittney seemed to catch the hint, and they followed Karyn up the aisle toward the doors. Karyn decided it would be okay for those two to see the secret hiding place. She was already coming up with great ideas for decorating the place. Or, the Place, as she now thought of it.  
  
When they reached the area behind the cabinets, they all squeezed in back there and Karyn carefully pulled open a door. She motioned for Chelsea and Brittney to follow her, and then the three of them quietly descended the hidden stairs.  
  
The two girls looked shocked when they saw the hidden room, and they were even more shocked to see one of their friends tied up in that hidden room. Karyn motioned to them to stay quiet, and she removed the blindfold from Kelsey's face.  
  
"See? The first chairs are plotting against the lives of their competition...or at least their health. I caught Kelsey trying to mug me with a Bach Strad. That's why she's down here like this." At this, Karyn looked at Kelsey, and then burst into a fit of laughter, because her section leader was still cross-eyed. Brittney and Chelsea giggled a little as well, but then Karyn went and did something weird to Kelsey's face that caused her eyes to pop back into their normal positions. She replaced the blindfold, and the girls all walked back upstairs, hiding the entrance once more.  
  
***About fifteen minutes later***  
  
The band was assembled and ready to play, while Kiefer tried to count up absences. He looked a little surprised when he saw that all the first trumpets, the first trombones, the first flutes, the first clarinets, the first tubas, and the baritones were missing, but he didn't say anything.  
  
Karyn wasn't surprised. Going through English Dance and Dance of the Jesters was a bit rough, since the top players weren't there to carry the weight of the section, but the band finally made it through rehearsal, and it was time for fourth period, the last one of the day.  
  
Just as Karyn shoved her trumpet into her cubby, Mr. Kiefer called to her and asked her to hang around the bandroom for a minute. She was surprised, since she wasn't one of his mindless followers (aka his "favorites"), but she obeyed, being the somewhat obedient person she is.  
  
As the jazz combo class set up chairs around the drum set and guitar amps, Karyn talked to Chris, Jon, and Christina, seeing as how they were the only people in the class not missing, besides Mr. Kiefer's son who was on his way from another school. None of them seemed to know where the missing students were, so Karyn kept quiet...and then Kiefer called her up to the stage.  
  
"Would you happen to know where any of the senior trumpets are or where Daniel is? It seems odd for them all to be out of school at once, especially since most of them never miss school."  
  
Karyn felt guilty, but she managed to mumble out something about them maybe all getting sick at the same time, and she quickly went to fourth period.  
  
***Ninety minutes later***  
  
Karyn went to the bandroom to collect all of her items, and she sent them home with her mom, telling her that she would call when she was ready to leave school. She then snuck back down to her Place to talk to Kelsey, concerning the whereabouts of some of the other band members.  
  
Kelsey was asleep and snoring, and she had this huge spider trying to crawl up her nose. Karyn thought it was incredibly funny, but she shook Kelsey on the shoulder so they could talk. She also made Kelsey kill the spider, since Karyn is terrified of them.  
  
Once the blindfold and gag was removed, Karyn pulled up a small box and sat on it, in front of Kelsey.  
  
"So, do you know where all those people are today? You know, all the first part players in nearly every section. I mean, did you all plot together what you were going to do, or was this a separate project?"  
  
Kelsey decided that there was no point in keeping secrets, but she still didn't have much to tell Karyn, except that she had no idea where Camp, Ashley, and Daniel were. Their conversation was cut short by a scream from above.  
  
"What in the...?" Karyn didn't finish, but she ran up the stairs, curious to see what was going on. She saw a group around something in the middle of the aisle, but she couldn't see what that something was. She pushed to the middle of the circle, where Chelsea was sitting, reading something on a piece of paper.  
  
"It says that they took Brittney...and we may never see her again!" Chelsea cried hysterically, since she and Brittney were like sisters. Karyn however begin to think more logically about the situation...(and that's not something that happens often) 


	3. Chelsea and Jennyfer steal T-poles, Kary...

The note was written on the back of a copy of the French horn All-State solo, and it looked like a girl's writing. After some clever thinking on Karyn's part, it was decided that the only person to fit the description of this kidnapper was Heather. Karyn was confused, yet again.  
  
"Why would Heather do something like this?" Karyn wondered aloud, "after all, I thought she was supposed to be the responsible drum major...or something like that."  
  
Chelsea grabbed her clarinet case and guard flag, ready to use either one for a weapon.  
  
"Come on you guys, we have to hunt her down and...and...beat her up!!"  
  
"Yeah!" a group of freshmen chorused.  
  
Karyn just rolled her eyes.  
  
"How...daring," she said sarcastically.  
  
"Hey! That isn't very nice!" said Emily, the freshman clarinetist. Karyn just gave her a Look, and she shut up. Nobody liked her (except for Amanda, but everyone liked her even less), so they didn't care how she was treated.  
  
"But...but you can't beat up Heather! Heather's perfect! I want to be just like her!" Amanda exclaimed. Everyone ignored her ramblings for a while, but someone finally had the sense to stuff her into a horn cubby.  
  
After that annoyance was eliminated, Karyn, Jennyfer, and Chelsea all decided to track down Heather and question her. Chelsea and Jennyfer took the guard's T-poles as weapons, and Karyn stole Bame's trombone, for lack of anything better. She would have taken a tuba, but those were too heavy.  
  
For about an hour, they searched fruitlessly around the school for the drum major, but she was nowhere to be found, even though her car was there. Finally, it was Chelsea who had the bright idea to search the Place, and Karyn decided she could trust it's secret with Jennyfer.  
  
"Why are WE doing this?" Karyn asked.  
  
"Because we have to find Brittney before Heather does something really bad to her," Chelsea explained.  
  
Jennyfer rolled her eyes, "This seems kind of pointless to me."  
  
"There is no pointless..." Karyn murmured, mostly to herself.  
  
As they were descending the staircase, a sound was heard. A familiar sound. It was someone giggling...and it wasn't hard to tell who that someone was.  
  
"Are you...TICKLISH?" A familiar, yet demented-sounding voice asked. The reply was more giggling.  
  
The room was now in plain sight. Brittney was strapped to a wooden crate, giggling helplessly, while Heather, who looked a bit crazed, stood over Brittney, tickling her. Scattered around the room were all the missing band members, except for Mallie. They were bound and blindfolded, and they were most likely very confused.  
  
Jennyfer did some kind of complicated-looking twirl of her pole, and she promptly bonked Heather over the head, knocking her unconscious. Brittney's giggles gradually subsided.  
  
Meanwhile, Karyn and Chelsea untied everybody, but left them blindfolded until they were led safely to the middle of the bandroom.  
  
"Matt, where is Maggie-Alex?" Karyn asked.  
  
"Merle? She got food poisoning or something...I don't know."  
  
"And you didn't have anything to do with this?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"No."  
  
Karyn walked away, exasperated at the stupidity of the tubas (except for Mal, of course), but she decided that she wouldn't worry about it too much.  
  
She went back downstairs and helped tie Heather up and hide her on top of the clarinet cubbies upstairs. Jennyfer had found out that Heather just wanted all competition out of the way so she could have the highest chair score. She had known about the secret Place long before Karyn found it, so that explained why everyone was down there.  
  
"So...some people will do anything to get their way," Karyn commented.  
  
"Yeah, kind of like you," Chelsea replied.  
  
Karyn glared, and she menacingly advanced toward Chelsea. It was a sure sign that everything was normal again.  
  
But what is "normal"? 


End file.
